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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

A Novel Rescue Technique for Difficult Intubation and Difficult Ventilation
Published on: January 17, 2011
Unexpected difficult extubation of double lumen bronchial intubation: a case report
Xingcai Zhang1, Shumiao Tang1, Zihui Lu1
1Department of Anesthesiology, Ningbo City First Hospital, No. 59 Liuting Street, Haishu District, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China.
Background:
The anesthetist and other members of the perioperative team need to be extremely cautious for successful completion of any surgery. If the final step of any general anesthetic-extubation is not sufficiently well planned, it can lead to critical airway incidents during the extubation and hinder transportation of the patient to the post-anesthesia care unit.
Case Presentation:
A 48-year-old female underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) combined with left lower lobectomy. The distal end of the left branch of the tracheal tube was lodged by surgical sutures. In this case, the respiratory physician burned the sutures using an argon electrode, after discussion with the thoracic surgery experts.
Conclusions:
Teamwork is essential when caring for a patient with a shared airway. The anesthetist and surgeon must communicate well with each other to achieve optimal surgical outcomes. Importantly, testing the patency of the ETT prior to extubation should be a regular procedure, which is practical significance to guide safe extubation.
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